London, Jun 1 (IANS): Singer Noel Gallagher has slammed Harry Styles for his debut single "Sign of the times", saying his "cat could write that in 10 minutes".

In an interview on Absolute Radio, Gallagher also criticised Simon Cowell for stifling the music industry and making the music about the narrative rather than the art, reports dailymail.co.uk.

Gallagher said: "People of my age have let themselves go, they're fat, balding idiots with fading tattoos. They sit in their garage and write s***e like ‘Sign of the Times' for Harry Styles. Which, quite frankly, my cat could have written in about 10 minutes!"

He added: "I don't mind the song. My wife was falling over herself, ‘Have you heard Harry Styles' new song? It's like Prince'. I was like ‘Without even hearing it, I can assure you it's not like Prince!'"

Turning his attention to Cowell, Gallagher said: "There's a constant narrative about Simon Cowell has ruined the lives of everybody. Nobody's forced to buy this music, and because there's nobody like the Verve or Oasis, or that kind of thing anymore, or Brit Pop or anything like that: that's Simon Cowell's fault."

The "Don't look back in anger" songwriter added: "It's like the ‘X Factor' is a TV show it's got nothing to do with music whatsoever. Anything that's come from ‘X Factor', that's got nothing to do with music."